Cherry Bombs
by Artistic Visionz
Summary: What was Johnny Cade like _before_ the Socs beat him up? Here's my _short_ story view. R&R, please, as this is my first FanFic.


Disclaimer:  
"The Outsiders" and all related Characters are copyrighted and property of SE Hinton and her respective publishers and re-publishers.   
This story is a non-profit venture and intends no copyright infringement. The story is written for entertainment purposes only. While copyrighted characters are used, the ideas and situations of this story are intellectual property and (C) of Artistic_Visionz.  
  
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"Cherry Bombs"  
FanFiction (C) Artistic_Visionz  
9:38 AM 1/10/2002  
  
Note: These events take place prior to those in "The Outsiders" and before Johnny got jumped by the Socs.  
  
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It was hot. No, I mean, really hot. Not even hosing off or standing in a cold shower helped. The window fan was broke and Darry said he'd try and pick up another one at the store, but he'd forgot. Sometimes I swear he does it on purpose. Neither him or Soda's home all day and when they get home it's cooled off some, and I think Darry's just forgettin on purpose 'cause he don't like me. Soda says that ain't true, but he don't know Darry like I do. 'Sides, Soda just wants to keep the peace.  
  
I was just gettin out of the shower again when I heard a knock on the screen door just before it banged open and shut.  
  
"Ponyboy? You here?"  
  
It was Johnny.  
  
"Yeah," I said leanin out the bathroom and hollerin. "I'll be right out." Johnny Cade is my best friend, I think, next to Soda. Darry sometimes complains that Johnny needs to straighten up some. But I figure, heck, man, if you got folks like Johnny has, you might be a little wild, too.  
  
I pulled on some jeans and grabbed a t-shirt I'd cut the arms off of. Showing off my biceps, I was hoping to look tuff, but Johnny snickered when I walked in.  
  
"You ain't got no muscles, man" he joked at me, "You hopin' to impress somebody?"  
  
"Shut up, Johnny," I laughed at him, "You ain't one to talk."  
  
"Yeah," he grinned, lighting up a smoke, "Maybe, but I ain't showin' off like you. Whaddya wanna do today?"  
  
"I dunno," I answered, "It's damned hot already."  
  
"Ain't that the truth," he agreed. He smiled then, "Let's go, I got somethin I wanna show ya."  
  
"Ok," I said as he got up off the couch and we headed out the door. "Gimme a smoke."  
  
"Sure," he tossed me a half-empty pack of smokes.   
  
After lighting one, I handed it back, "So?"  
  
"What?" he grinned, "You'll see it when ya see it."  
  
We walked to the strip and ended up behind the dimestore. The place was littered with trash and there were a bunch of cans lined up next to the back door. Johnny turned to me and grinned as he pulled out a cherry bomb.  
  
"Whoa," I said, "where'd you get that?"  
  
"Dally," he grinned holding it up by the wick, "He's got a bunch."  
  
"Where'd Dallas get 'em?" I wondered out loud.  
  
"Who cares, man?" Johnny's grin widened. He turned and pulled out another one, twisting the wicks together. He opened a trashcan.  
  
"You ain't gonna blow them here!" I said.  
  
"Why not?" he looked at me, "You gotta better place?" He set them inside and pulled out his lighter, flicking his cigarette butt away. "You ready?" he asked, already putting the lighter to the wicks.  
  
Before I had a chance to answer, two things happened.   
  
One, the back door of the dimestore opened up. The fat manager was holding a big bag of trash. He looked at us and started to yell at us.  
  
Two, Johnny had already lit the fuses of the cherry bombs and dropped the lid back on it.  
  
Me and Johnny took off running.  
  
"What are you kids doing!?" the fat guy yelled at us as we split. We half turned and watched as he picked up the trash can lid and swung his bag of garbage into it.  
  
And then they blew.  
  
Kapow! The cherry bombs went off and exploded garbage all over the fat guy. We heard him cussing at us but we were both laughing too hard and trying to run, so we didn't hear much. We didn't stop running for a few minutes, I had to stop a couple times and let Johnny catch up. We ended up at the lot, and fell down, laughing.  
  
"Oh, man," Johnny laughed, trying to catch his breath. "You see how fat that guy was?"  
  
"Did you see the garbage fly!?" I laughed, "I bet Two-Bit would'a stayed and cracked jokes at him."  
  
"Yeah, man," Johnny said, "that was good."  
  
We sat in the lot for a while, just breathing hard and laughing, making fun of the fat guy. Johnny Cade is a cool kid, no matter what Darry says. I hope he don't ever change. 


End file.
